Deaf Star is the solo experimental noise-gaze moniker of the Barcelona-by-way-of-San Francisco artist simply known as Ivan. You don’t really need to know much more than that about the guy. If anything, the sparsity in detail and uncertain mystique only feeds more distortion and abstraction into his tape-decomposed soundscape crafted on “Dim Times”, the latest highlight from his forthcoming debut album, Sunset Overdrive. A looking glass into the present moment, the listen’s unsettled bleakness lends itself well to its disorienting guitarwork as Ivan’s vocals fade in and out of view. “The nightmares were rehearsals / For these dim times / No cure for the sick world,” he sinks through the hiss in its pseudo chorus. Paired up with those new Boards of Canada tracks, the sounds of the imminent abyss are beginning to feel a bit like a balm these days in contrast to our current reality.

Deaf Star’s Sunset Overdrive will be released June 5th on School of the Arts.